A national school fitness study has revealed a mixed picture on gender health indicators.
According to Sportz Village EduSports’ 14th Annual Health Survey, girls outperform boys in five of seven fitness parameters including BMI (62% vs 57%), flexibility (73% vs 68%), core strength (88% vs 86%), upper body strength (53% vs 45%) and anaerobic capacity (65% vs 63%).
However, only 27% of girls meet aerobic capacity benchmarks compared to 41% of boys — marking the widest gender gap recorded in the survey.
The assessment, covering 1,41,840 students across 333 schools in 112 cities, also reports that two-thirds of children overall struggle with sustained cardiorespiratory activity.
Public school students outperformed private school peers in aerobic capacity (40% vs 33%), anaerobic capacity (81% vs 62%) and flexibility (78% vs 69%).
Saumil Majmudar, Co-founder, CEO & MD, Sportz Village, said, “This year’s findings rearm something we have always believed – healthy childhoods are intentionally built! At a time when children are facing rising lifestyle-related health risks and growing emotional pressures, building healthy habits early has never been more important. Schools play a critical role by designing structured opportunities for movement, but lasting impact comes when families and communities support the same environment. As a country, we must continue to track and understand children’s well-being at scale, so that we can respond meaningfully and collectively. The opportunity before us is clear – to act with intent today and create healthier, happier childhoods for the years ahead.”
